COMPARATIVE STUDY OF GROWTH HORMONE (GH) IHMUNOGENICITY IN NORMAL VARIANT SHORT CHILDREN

The immunogenicity of 3 recombinant GH preparations used to treat 117 children have been compared. Children were 4-12 years of age, 70 M, 47 F. Height 2 SD for age. Fifteen children were with chronic renal failure, and 102 with growth failure without known etiology. GH response to provocative tests in all children were > 10 mcg/L. The children were treated with Bio-Tropin (Bio-Technology General, Israel;n=55, 6 years), Norditropin (Novo-Nordisk, Denmark; n=62, 3-4 yrs) and Saizen (serono; n=8, 0.9-1 year). For the detection of anti GH antibodies (ab), a double antibody immunoassay was utilized. Thirty of the samples were analyzed by two different laboratories. Non of the patients developed anti GH ab. It is concluded that in contrast to the past experience where the detection of anti GH ab in children treated with different brands of authentic GH was frequent, the degree of purity of contemporary preparations prevents development of anti GH ab.